Happy Families?
by BethyBoo97
Summary: Will everyone be okay in the end? I do not own the characters
1. Chapter 1

"Boy or a girl, what do you think?" Gerry asked as he pulled up outside the hospital's scanning department.

"I don't know, Alexis is certain she wants a sister so they can play dolls and dress up and this morning that boys were stupid."

"I think I may need to have a word with her about that." Gerry said as they both laughed.

"Have you thought about any names?" Sandra asked her after having found a baby names book under his pillow that morning.

"Course I have, I love Alexis' name and everything but I had no input into it."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be, anyway I was thinking Noah or Sebastian for a boy and Maria or Chloe for a girl."

"No child of mine will have a Biblical name. Sebastian is a possibility and I love Chloe."

"Well Chloe if it's a girl then but we still have 15 weeks if it's a boy."

"Yeah, come on we're going to be late." Sandra said as she got out of the car

"Is it a boy or a girl?" Gerry asked the nurse excitedly.

"I'm not sure, let me just go and ask the doctor to come and have a look." The nurse replied as she gave Sandra and Gerry a half hearted smile.

"A doctor? Something must be wrong." Sandra panicked.

"No, it's all fine. She's probably only newly qualified and looked for some reassurance, she looked quite young. The doctor will come in and tell us whether our baby is a he or a she."

"Yeah that'll be that." Sandra replied but she didn't look at all convinced.

"Hello, I'm Dr Kenton, I'm sorry about Darcy, she's new and still learning so unless things are textbook simple then she hasn't a clue."

"Not simple? Is something wrong?" Gerry asked as he began to feel as panicked as Sandra looked.

"I doubt it but let's check." Dr Kenton said as he powered up the scanner and put more gel on Sandra's tummy. "Look, there's your baby, it's developing well."

"It's not moving." Sandra pointed out.

"I wouldn't worry they get a little tired sometimes. Would you like to know baby's sex?"

"Yes please." Gerry replied after he and Sandra had shared a look.

"Say hello to little Miss Standing."

"A girl?" Sandra beamed as she saw a mirror image of her happiness plastered across Gerry's face.

"Yep." The doctor smiled. "Congratulations."

"We should have guessed that! It seems I'm only capable of producing girls."

"Who said she was yours?" They both laughed. "So it's Chloe then?"

"Yeah." Gerry smiled, overjoyed at the fact that he was a part of this pregnancy.

"So should we have a listen to how strong Chloe's heartbeat is?" Dr Kenton asked.

"Yes." They chorused, knowing that it'd add to the realness of it all.

"Okay." The heartbeat detector was now being skimmed over Sandra's tummy.

"Why can't I hear anything?" Sandra asked as she began to panic all over again.

"I don't know, I'll put a heart trace on, it could just be that she's not laying the way we'd hoped."

"Is that a problem?" Gerry asked as Sandra squeezed his hand tighter looking for reassurance.

"Mrs Standing, you're going to need to have some surgery, things aren't looking too great for Chloe. The heart trace told us she's got a very weak one. Her only chance is to get her out now, we need to take you up for a c-section."


	2. Chapter 2

"Gerry, we can't have her now. She'll be tiny and we aren't ready and they'll keep me in and what about Alexis?" Sandra panicked.

"Stop stressing, it's not good for you or Chloe. I'll sort Alexis out while they prep you for theatre."

"Make sure you're back. I need you in there with me. Make sure Alexis knows I love her lots."

"I'm going to ring Esther, ask her to pick Alexis up. I'll be back in here and ready in a few minutes."

"Esther?"

"Gerry! How's the scan go?"

"Chloe's not well, I need you to pick up Alexis from school and feed her if you can."

"Of course I can, but who's Chloe? Is that little one?"

"Yeah."

"What a lovely name! What's wrong with her?"

"They don't know, I have to do they're doing a C-Section. Don't tell Alexis about what's going on or Chloe's name. Make sure she knows me and her mummy love her lots."

"Okay, of course I will. Good luck, I have my fingers crossed for you."

"I'm back, Alexis is sorted."

"Mrs Standing?" A man asked as he came into the room.

"Yeah."

"I'm Dr Evans, I'm here to take you down to theatre."

"I'm not going without Gerry."

"Don't worry, you don't have to."

"Right, you'll feel a bit of pressure in your lower tummy because she's about to come out." Sandra squeezed Gerry's hand tighter with fear.

"Well done Sandra, she's here. They've taken her straight up to PICU and into an incubator to help and support her." The midwife told Gerry and Sandra as they cleaned Sandra up.

"Was she okay? Was she as bad as they thought? How much did she weigh?" Sandra asked the midwife; who unlike her had sen Chloe.

"Sandra, she's extremely premature and she weighed 1 pound."

"God she's tiny." Gerry muttered as tears fell from his eyes.

"Here's a picture I took before she went upstairs." The midwife said as she handed the picture over.

"Oh, she's gorgeous." Sandra whispered. "She looks like you Gerry, she has the beginnings of your dark hair."

"Yeah but she has your sparkly blue eyes."

"Can we go and see Chloe?" Sandra asked as she lay panicking in her bed back on ward.

"I'm sorry Mrs Standing. You're on bed rest, you've just had major surgery so wait a few hours. Mr Standing can go up though."

"Go and see her Gerry, take pictures for me and tell her I love her."

"I can't leave you. We can go up together soon." Gerry said nervously, when he was with Sandra he could hold it together for her sake but he had no idea how he'd been facing this on his own.

"Gerry she's on her own, she's not met her parents yet. Go."

"I love you Sandra and I'll be back down soon."

"I love you too."

"Chloe Standing?" Gerry told the nurse on PICU.

"Yeah, she's just over here." The nurse said as she led him over to her. "Congratulations by the way."

"What's wrong with her?"

"She's got a hole in her heart, she's got drips in to keep the nutrients she needs going into her and the incubator is too keep her warm. We need to keep a close eye on her to check her organs are developing how we'd like them too as they aren't functioning properly at this age."

"Oh God. Will she be okay?" Gerry asked nervously.

"I'd say she has a 50/50 chance of survival." The nurse told him honestly as Gerry stared down at his gorgeous new born daughter attached to drips with several tubes stuck into her tiny limbs.


	3. Chapter 3

"Gerry, how is she?" Sandra asked desperately as Gerry appeared back in the ward.

"She's doing well considering, they say she's a fighter."

"Good. They've said I can come up and see her soon."

"Esther?" Alexis asked confused as she walked out of her classroom. "Where's mummy and daddy?"

"They're at hospital to see how the baby is."  
"Can I go see? I want a little sister."

"No, they'll be back soon."

"Am I coming to yours then?"

"Yeah you are sweetie."

"Can I walk Scampi with you?" Alexis asked cheerily.

"Course you can, first though we need to go to the shop and get something for dinner. So what do you want for tea?" Esther asked.

"Anything. When will mummy and daddy be home?" The little girl asked.

"I'm not sure sweetie, I'm sure your daddy will ring soon."

"Oh, can I have sausage, chips and beans?"

"Sure, what do you want to drink?"

"Coke, one with my name on it."

"Do they do them?"

"I hope so." Alexis replied as they walked into the local tesco express.

"I'll go and get tea, you find your drink."

"Okay."

"Mrs Standing we can take you up to see Chloe now." A nurse said as Sandra was yet again about to ask whether she could meet her daughter yet. Sandra was by no one's definition a patient person but she became even less so when it was anything to do with her family.

"About time, I've been waiting hours to see my baby."

"She's so tiny Gerry. She was protected in my womb. I'm useless now she's here." Sandra cried.

"No you aren't, she'll recognize your voice and know that you're still around. Anyway this is the best place for her to be." Gerry reminded her as he hugged her closer as she stood crying. She felt like her heart had been ripped out and had been replaced by a knife determined to ruin her from the inside out. Her tummy was doing flips, but not the happy kind, she felt like throwing up and yet she was frozen to the spot staring at the baby in front of her so small and vulnerable with various wires attached to her.

"I know, I just can't get my head around this, 24 hours ago everything was perfect. I mean think back and it was only yesterday we felt her kick for the first time, how did things go so badly wrong?!" Sandra thought aloud when she was together enough to talk.

"There's no point searching for whys, we'll never know. Right now we have to focus on Chloe and Alexis because they're our life." Gerry said trying to keep himself together in front of Sandra but knowing the tears were going to come.

"Have you spoken to Alexis?" Sandra asked wondering how her other daughter was and how they were going to break this news to her.

"No, when I leave here and pick her up I'm going to sit her down and tell her."

"Okay, tell her to come and visit her little sister tomorrow and mummy because I miss her loads."

"I'll ring Strickland too and tell him neither of us'll be at work tomorrow."

"Yeah I forgot about work." Sandra admitted.

"Good, right now we need to focus on pulling through this and as a family."

"Hello Esther, I'll be over in 10 minutes." Gerry asked as Esther picked up the phone and immediately she could tell he'd been crying just by the sound of his voice.

"Is everything okay?" Esther asked.

"Can I talk to Alexis please?"

"Course you can, she's curled up with Scampi on the sofa. She's been telling him all about baby." Esther said as she passed the phone to Alexis.

"Hello princess."

"Hello daddy."

"I'll be over to pick you up in 10 minutes."

"Yay. Can we get a dog please daddy?"

"We'll talk later."

"I love Scampi."

"Yeah but we can't have a dog when they'll be a baby around."


	4. Chapter 4

"Where's mummy and the baby?" Alexis asked as she sat down onto the sofa. Gerry had known this question was coming but still had no idea how to answer it.

"They're at the hospital still."

"Why?"

"The baby wasn't very well…"

"Is it okay?"

"So mummy had to have the baby so that the doctors could look after it."

"Is it a girl?" Alexis asked excitedly not really knowing what was going on but understanding that the baby was now born.

"Yes, her name's Chloe."

"Yay! Can we go and see her?"

"Not right now sweetie, she's sleeping and mummy's looking after her like I'm looking after you so how about a film?"  
"Can I pick?"

"Course."

Not long later he had Alexis sleeping on his shoulder as the film wasn't even half way through the film. Taking Alexis gently he carried her up the stairs and tucked her into bed, and went back down to the living room.

He knew that Alexis was just a child and that Sandra was going to need a lot of support but it had been so long since he'd had to be the strong one. Right now he needed some support, some one to just tell him every thing was going to be okay, but he couldn't handle telling anyone else, the more people that said that she'd be okay the more he felt it was all cursed. His phone began vibrating in his pocket and when he saw Sandra's name he assumed it was to say goodnight and I love you, instead he was greeted by hysterical crying in which he could make out 'I need you up here at the hospital.'

Now it was his turn to shed a tear, he was needed at the hospital and he was needed here at home and he had a feeling he probably shouldn't bring Alexis down to the hospital if Sandra was crying. She didn't cry at just anything but he was in a state himself so it could have been something serious at the same time it could have just been hormones.

"Esther?"

"Gerry is everything okay?"

"I'm not sure, Sandra said I'm needed at the hospital so can you do me a massive favor?"  
"Yeah I'd be happy to look after Alexis."

"Thanks, can you come here? She's in bed."

"Of course I can, I assumed she would be."

"Sandra?" Gerry said breathlessly as he ran into the hospital to find her still crying hysterically while nurses tried to calm her down. "Hey, shhhh." He said as he pulled her into his arms.

"She's down in surgery; she had something wrong with her heart." The nurse said as Sandra tried but couldn't get the words out.

"What?! When will she be out?"

"A few hours, but no news is good news Mr Standing. The surgery is routine surgery but as all surgery does, it comes with risks."


	5. Chapter 5

"Is there any news yet?" Gerry asked as he walked out into the corridor to grab a nurse.

"Name?" The nurse asked.

"Chloe Standing."

"Okay, I'll go and check."

"Thank you."

"Sandra Standing?" A doctor asked.

"Yeah, is there news on Chloe?" Sandra asked desperately.

"No sorry, I'm here to check you over and see if we can think about discharging you."

"I need to know if Chloe's okay first."

"Sandra, a nurse went to check." Gerry pointed out.  
"Okay doctor, go on."

"Well your wounds are healing nicely so yeah we can discharge you."

"Where can we wait for Chloe?" Sandra asked sensing they needed the bed and quickly.

"There's a family room up on PICU where you can wait because as soon as surgery's done she'll be taken back up there."

"Okay, we'll get sorted here and go up." Sandra said before thanking the doctor.

"We need to wait for the nurse to come down first Sandra." Gerry reminded her.

"Yes I know that Gerry." Sandra snapped suddenly irrationally angry.

"Mr. and Mrs. Standing?" A young girl in a blue uniform asked.

"Yeah, any news?"

"Yeah, there were a couple of complications that I'm sure the surgeon will tell you about when they're done, but it's all going okay now and it's under control." The nurse told them.

"So she's okay?" Sandra asked worriedly.

"Yeah, she'll be out with in the next twenty minutes."

"Thank you." Gerry said welling up as Sandra was yet again in tears.

"Would you like me to show you up to the family room?"

"Yes please." Gerry replied, "Come on baby." He turned to Sandra as he took her hand and squeezed it to reassure her.

"Okay, tea and coffee's there, milk in the fridge which is there and mugs are in that cupboard, there's also some juice in the fridge." The nurse said as she pointed everything out. "Toilets are just out this door to the left." She said before leaving.

"20 minutes, that's not too long." Sandra said trying to convince herself that it'd all be over soon.

"No I suppose it's not, it's 15 now Sandra."

"Really?"

"Yeah, we were the other end of the hospital and we walked slowly so it didn't hurt you."

"Even better, how was Alexis? Did she take it okay?"

"She didn't really understand but she's happy to have a sister. We were watching a film and she fell asleep so I carried her upstairs and tucked her in bed, Esther and Brian are round looking after her. After all the baby excitements over she'll be asking for a dog, she asked me earlier and I said we couldn't with a baby around."

"Okay, we need to come up with a reason why we can't have one without mentioning I shot one."

"Mr and Mrs Standing?" A tall doctor asked as he came in the relatives room. "I'm Dr Holbrook, I was doing Chloe's surgery."

"Is she okay?" Sandra asked.

"Can we see her?" Gerry asked.

"There were a few complications…"

"The nurse told us but she was fine so can I see my baby please?"

"Let him finish babe." Gerry told her as he squeezed her hand again.

"We did sort those complications but then she started bleeding heavily and we couldn't stop it." The doctor sighed, "I'm sorry, we did everything we could but she didn't make it. I'm so sorry."


	6. The Blame Game

"Come on Gerry, I need to get out of here." Sandra said wiping the tears away.

"Are you sure?" Gerry asked as he carried on supporting her, the events of the last hour having not sunk in yet.

"Yes we have another daughter to look after who'll need comforting when she finds out about her baby sister."

"Sandra it's the middle of the night, she'll be asleep she does not need to know until tomorrow."

"Fine but take me home or I'll make my own way there."

The car journey home was silent with only early morning radio to accompany their thoughts.

"We can set up the spare room for Brian and Esther." Gerry tried to start a conversation.

"It's already done; anyway they're probably already asleep in it." Sandra snapped.

"Sandra honey, don't push me away." Gerry said sympathetically as he opened the front door.

"I'm going to bed."

"Fine, I'll be up in a minute."

He walked up the stairs then minutes later after sitting on his own staring at Chloe's picture crying. All was silent in the house and to be honest he expected Sandra to have cried herself to sleep by now, instead he found their bed empty. As he opened Alexis' bedroom door he stopped as he found Sandra in Alexis' bed with Alexis curled into her and both of them fast asleep.

Unable to even face the idea of crying induced sleep he wandered back down the stairs and sat on the sofa with his phone lit up with Chloe's image. In a day he'd gained a daughter and lost her without even being able to hold her. Not only that but he'd promised both Sandra and Chloe that everything would be okay and now he'd lost Chloe and had to be strong for Sandra and Alexis. Why couldn't everything have been okay? Why did Chloe have to leave them so soon?

He'd sat staring at the picture for hours while crying, he was so much in his own little world that it took him a couple of minutes to register that Esther was next to him.

"She's gorgeous, is Sandra and her okay?" Esther asked.

"She's…de…gone."

"What do you mean?"

"Surgery didn't go well…there were complications."

"I am so sorry Gerry." Esther said pulling Gerry into a hug, "How are you coping?"

"I was supposed to make sure everything was okay, I failed."

"No you didn't, you aren't a surgeon, and you couldn't have changed it. Your job now is supporting the two girls in your life, how are they doing?"

"Sandra's a mess and I'm not even sure she's talking to me just now, and Alexis doesn't know yet. Sandra is up in her bed."

"Morning daddy!" Alexis smiled her dazzling smile at him.

"Morning Lex." Gerry smiled back at her and pulled her into a hug.

"Why's mummy in my bed?"

"I'm not sure darling; I'll go and wake her up."

"Her snoring woke me up!" Alexis laughed.

"Sandra honey, I brought you a cup of coffee."

"Why?"

"Becayse you can't function without caffeine in the morning." Gerry said as he slid into the small bed beside her.

"I don't want you anywhere near me Gerry."

"Why not? I know this is hard but we need to stick together baby." Gerry replied, trying to keep the hurt out of his voice.

"You got me pregnant, this is your fault."


End file.
